Page 51 of Conflicted Fate
Given all that had happened, I expected the Alphas to be on high alert, which meant increased patrols and a high likelihood that anyone we saw in the countryside would be hostile.
We crossed the next ridgeline, dipping down the other side and veering off to the left toward a freshwater stream. In the distance, the city of Nycitum loomed large. Built right up against the base of the mountain and reaching halfway up, Nycitum was constructed in tiers that decreased in size as they went up. A thousand holes were bored into the mountain as mighty forges burned day and night to build all manner of tools and implements needed in the ever-growing population of the Canis Empire.
At the top of it all was the Grand Forge. Where the Fate Stones were created. That was our target. Destroy the only forge capable of creating something that could bind Fate, stopping Lycaonus’ plan in its tracks.
My eyes followed the levels of white stone up until they landed on the highest level. I studied it as if I could come up with a plan that would succeed from where we stood.
As I examined it, my heart skidded to a stop.
No. It couldn’t be.
Kiel noticed my slowing and turned back to come nuzzle my face, urging me to keep moving, to get off the ridgeline and out of sight in a stream below. But I didn’t move, instead jerking my muzzle at the city. I hoped I was seeing things, but the lightning-fast shiver that ran through him told me he saw it, too.
Snarling, he turned and trotted toward the water’s edge. I followed, shifting back once I was out of sight.
I sat on a rock, hands automatically fiddling with my hair, twisting it and pulling it apart, over and over again. Anything to keep them busy.
“That was faster than expected,” Kiel grunted as he walked forward into the shallow stream and sat down to fully immerse himself in the cold water.
After a moment, I went in after him, lowering myself into his lap.
“Lycaonus is there,” I said flatly. “That’s his flag flying above the city next to Nycitus.’ Isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is,” Kiel said, confirming it instead of doing as I’d hoped and telling me I’d imagined it. “They must have dug him out of the mountain.”
“Damn,” I cursed. “We needed more time. If he’s there, and the Alphas are there …”
Kiel nodded. “Then he may very well have already started binding the shards of fate into the swords.”
“What do we donow?” I asked plaintively, leaning my head against his shoulder.
Thick arms wrapped around me, warm despite the chilly mountain waters flowing over us. Kiel held me tight and kissed the top of my head. He knew I wasn’t complaining to be petulant. I was simply frustrated. We were trying to do the right thing, and the world kept conspiring to make things harder and harder for us.
“We have to stop him,” Kiel grunted, his chest rumbling with the vibrations of his words.
“But our original plan goes out the window, doesn’t it? Infiltrating the city and destroying the Grand Forge is pointless if he’s already made the swords.”
“And maybe he hasn’t,” Kiel said. “Maybe it takes time. If he’s only gotten one done and we destroy the forge, then we prevent another five from being made.”
“That’s true,” I conceded.
Kiel’s chest rose and fell a little extra before he spoke again. “It has to be done. In the end … If necessary, destroying that forge comes before myself. I will do it.”
Alone, he meant.
“No,” I said, straddling him. In any other situation, the two of us naked, my legs spread around him, would have been hyper-sexual. But not then. “You will not. This is not some damn martyr mission.”
Kiel’s features softened. “Jada …”
“I saidno,” I snarled in his face, shutting his protest down. “Get that out of your head right now.”
“The truth of it is—”
“Thetruth,” I growled, leaning forward until my face was inches from his, “is that you’re looking for some grand gesture, something that will help you ‘undo the past’ or whatever horseshit line you’re going to use to convince me. Well, it won’t work. Do you know why?”
“Why?” he asked wryly, not—quite—smiling.
“Because you’ve spent the past few centuries doing that.”
